Football is a sport widely dominated by men. Most high schools don’t have a girl’s football team. The Arcadia High School (AHS) Football team has broken this tradition of male-dominated football by recruiting three girls from the AHS Soccer team: Morgan Zimmerman, Kayla Ibrahim, and Victoria Kenworthy, all in their sophomore year at AHS.

Having three girls on the football team is a big step forward, but a controversial one. The integration of genders in sports at the high school level has been discussed again and again. Questions about fairness, and safety arise when both genders are playing on the same team, or against each other. This subject is especially relevant in a physical sport like football, where athletes are at risk of injury.

Zimmerman, Ibrahim, and Kenworthy were recruited on a hot summer day. It was 100 degrees, and their soccer camp got cancelled. They decided to go kick around the soccer ball anyway. While they were kicking the ball around, one of the football coaches approached them. Coach Tom asked if they had ever kicked a football before, and if they would be interested in it.

“We just thought of it like ‘Oh, maybe’ but in the back of our minds we were like ‘We’re not gonna do this’ but then we ended up doing it, and now we’re here,” Zimmerman explained.

So far, they all have had a very positive experience with the sport and people on the team.

“In the beginning [my experience] was really awkward because we stuck together and we didn’t really know anyone. But now, we have really good friends on the football team. It’s really good to have guys on the football team and see them around campus, and it’s just very nice. It’s basically family.” Zimmerman said.

“At the beginning it was really weird, because I didn’t know anyone, and it felt really strange. But as soon as time went on in football camp, and we kept showing up everyday, we got to know the coaches and players more. And now since school started, it’s all become quite normal, [like] family.” Ibrahim said about her experience.

“I honestly didn’t expect to be as close to the people as I am now; half of them I would’ve never expected to talk to, and now they’re like my best friends.” Kenworthy elaborated.

Zimmerman, Ibrahim, and Kenworthy also compared their experiences on the football team to their experiences on the girls’ soccer team.

“It’s actually way different than I thought it would be. Because football and soccer, they’re sports, so there’s people that are very dedicated. With soccer we’re all very dedicated and we all know what we’re doing… my opinion is it’s way better than soccer,” Zimmerman said.

“For me, with football, they treat us more like a family than soccer ever would. I feel like because with soccer last year, it was during COVID, so we couldn’t really do anything other than games, but with football they really show that you care. Like we all care about each other, and we all think of each other as best friends. With football, we all do more things together than with soccer.” Ibrahim described.

“I like the fact that in soccer we can play a whole game. In football I wish we could do more but obviously I don’t want to tackle because I’m way too scared for that, and I could get really hurt. But I like how football is more inclusive; we have pre-game dinners all the time. In football we went to the beach and had a lot of fun. Football is definitely a lot more work but also a lot more fun,” said Kenworthy.

Kenworthy, Zimmerman, and Ibrahim are all kickers on the football team. Zimmerman kicks field goals, Kayla punts, and Victoria kicks the kickoffs. As kickers, they don’t play the field, this could be why Kenworthy wishes they could do more.

Kenworthy, Zimmerman, and Ibrahim then gave their opinion on if gender-integration should be implemented on sports teams at AHS.

“To be honest, I think it is a good idea and would be a lot of fun. Just the amount of friends we’ve made, us personally, but yeah I think they should,” said Zimmerman.

“I believe that there should be more gender-integration, but I feel like it’s kind of not necessary because there’s teams for both genders. But I think that with sports like football we should have more gender-integration,” explained Ibrahim.

“Yeah, I agree. I mean like don’t [join a boys sports team] just to be the first girl on the baseball team or one of the first girls or boys on another team, but if it’s something that you’re really interested in and you want to do, you should go for it no matter what,” said Kenworthy.

Like with anything, there are pros and cons to having co-ed sports. Luke Kendall from The WolfPacket demonstrated some cons of coed sports teams. He reasoned that co-ed sports teams may be worse because the coach may treat players differently due to gender.

Kendall said that in most cases, there has always been a stigma around people of authority treating males and females differently. He explains that this could potentially affect the team’s dynamic; one player may feel they are being treated unfairly compared to another.

Kendall also mentions the obvious reasoning; many believe that men are physically stronger than women, making it unfair and unsafe for gender-integrated teams.

In a different article describing the pros of co-ed sports teams, Kendall Chraplewski from The WolfPacket debunks this argument.

Chraplewski described a study at the University of British Columbia. They found that women were less tired after muscle exercises than men of a similar age and athletic ability. The study found that women have more stamina and endurance than men. He also pointed out that though women excel in stamina, men do have more muscle mass, denser bones, and are typically built larger than women. Chraplewski concluded that female and male athletes both have their individual strengths and weaknesses when it comes to physical activity.

Chraplewski also explained how a diverse team brings various skills to the environment. He said that co-ed sports encourage mutual respect. Diversity within a team will cultivate a variety of skills among teammates, and players will develop a new perspective of the sport. Co-ed sports could even be a better option for schools, they could lower costs and give athletes an opportunity to meet others with similar interests.

Photo courtesy of AUSD